No. 1? Hold That Talk

We’ll have to blame UCLA’s irrational exuberance Saturday on the giddiness that immediately followed the Bruins’ 23-20 victory over Michigan and that Mojave-like heat in Pasadena.

Back in Westwood Monday, cooler temperatures and cooler heads prevailed.

Instead of Ryan McCann’s proclamation that: “I think this proves we’re the No. 1 team in the nation,” McCann was saying: “I think we still want to prove we’re as good as we think we are.”

And Coach Bob Toledo: “We have not executed like we need to execute to make a run at it.”

The “it” Toledo is referring to is a national championship, of course. With a 3-0 record, victories over two teams ranked No. 3 at game time and a new No. 6 ranking of their own, the Bruins are genuine contenders.

Are they worthy? We still don’t know for sure.

All they’ve done is win at home. They let Fresno State hang close, and they beat Michigan and Alabama teams that had to travel across the country.

And the Crimson Tide has since dropped out of sight, losing 21-0 to Southern Mississippi in its last outing.

(Don’t think for a minute that the same principle doesn’t apply to USC. The value of USC’s victory over Penn State is sliding like the Euro. The Trojans felt good about beating Penn State in Eastern territory, at the Meadowlands, then the University of Toledo beat the Nittany Lions in their own crib. After that came a shutout in Pittsburgh. And that Colorado team the Trojans beat on Sept. 9 is now 0-3.)

The Bruins still have to show they can win on the road, which is something they couldn’t do in four tries last season.

They have to overcome their recent history of spotty bowl performances (1-3 in their last four appearances).

They have to erase that memory of a championship-dashing loss to Miami in the last game of the 1998 regular season.

And now they might have to do it all without defensive end Kenyon Coleman, whom Toledo called the team’s best player. He is having surgery for torn cartilage in his left knee today and could be lost for the season.

If they can carry their unbeaten record to Washington and win at Husky Stadium on Nov. 11, then turn around and beat the best USC team in years the next week, and win a bowl. . . . Now that would be the stuff of a No. 1 team.

The Bruins have already surpassed expectations just by forcing us into this discussion.

Last year’s defense gave up an average of 28.3 points and 444.6 yards a game. Those numbers are down by more than a touchdown and 130 yards this season.

“We’ve had the same coordinator for two years in a row,” Toledo explained. “No. 2, we have been a young football team, defensively, with not a lot of depth. We recruited to that depth.”

When they lost the 1999 Rose Bowl game to Wisconsin, “We started five freshmen and two sophomores,” Toledo said. “We were a young football team.

“When we lost to Miami, we were that young football team. We weren’t very tough or physical or any of those things. We needed to get better on that side of the ball. We were pretty physical offensively, but we weren’t as physical defensively. I think the maturity, the weight program, the continuity has really helped us. And our kids believe now that they’re really good defensively.”

All of those mistakes from years past have been turned into experience for the year 2000.

Defensive lineman Rusty Williams started 11 games last year. Defensive back Ricky Manning Jr. started nine games as a true freshman last year. And Jason Bell, a former starter, is back after missing the last nine games of last season after surgery on his heel.

The offensive line is no longer recovering from the loss of three starters, as it did last year, and can concentrate on building.

Star tailback DeShaun Foster is back to full health.

It’s all enough to make last year’s 4-7 record seem like a distant memory.

But not enough, apparently, to make the Bruins the favorites for Saturday’s game at Oregon.

“Underdogs, huh?” Toledo said when that was relayed to him. His face lit up, illuminated by the knowledge his pregame speech topic had just been found. “I’ll have to use that one.”

Normally we hate it when coaches try to manufacture that tired “they don’t respect us” motivational ploy. In this case, we’ll grant Toledo an exception. The Bruins haven’t accomplished too much yet.

J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: j.a.adande@latimes.com.

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UP NEXT

NO. 6 UCLA at OREGON

Saturday

12:30 p.m.

Fox Sp. Net

BRUIN STAR SIDELINED

UCLA defensive end Kenyon Coleman has torn cartilage in his left knee and will have surgery today. D8

NO CAKEWALK FOR TROJANS?

USC Coach Paul Hackett makes case that San Jose State will be a tough opponent. D9